My psychiatrist introduced me to the idea of the Monkey Mind. He is of Sri Lankan background and is a Buddhist in his private life. He was born and raised in Australia and his professional training is in evidence-based medicine.

He taught me this mindfulness method for stilling the Monkey Mind:

(1) Visualise, as vividly as possible, a stream with leaves floating down it.

(2) Visualise placing each of your Monkey Mind thoughts on one of those leaves.

(3) Passively (no judgement) watch those thoughts on their leaves move down the stream and out of your awareness.

This works for me and is one of my daily mindfulness/meditation exercises.